Monday, March 7, 2011

Lackey Looking Good

John Lackey has now looked sharp in two straight starts this spring. Everyone knows that the Sox line up looks formidable heading into April, but the key this year will be for starters Josh Beckett and John Lackey to bounce back from bad seasons. Dice-K needs to bounce back too, but I think you have to actually have been something to bounce back. (Can we just call Dice-K a bust already? I don't think I'm jumping the gun here.)

Having a healthy productive Dice-K would be nice, but really Lackey and Beckett need to be their old selves for the Sox to get back in the post season. Both were inconsistent and got banged around a lot last year. With Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester becoming the underpaid aces of the staff, they don't need to do much. I would take 14-8 with a 3.80 ERA from each of them. I don't think Beckett needs to get back to 2007 form. He just needs to stay healthy and learn to pitch with less velocity. Lackey needs to get back his confidence and be the gamer he's always been.

2 comments:

Though Dice-K has disappointed, they only needed to spend money to get him and didn't give anyway anything. Also, not for nothing, but everyone wanted Dice-K when he came over and just one more cheap shot, wouldn't you have rather had Dice-K than Carl Pavano?

Well Joe, when Pavano hit the free agent market it was a similar situation... Everyone wanted him as well and they all threw money at him. And over the past two seasons, I would sadly have to admit that I would rather have Pavano than Dice-K. More durable and definitely far less painfully to watch.